Rube Goldberg Machine

Your team will design and create a Rube Goldberg Machine to pop a balloon, turn on a light, or crack an egg. The machine must use a minimum of 5 steps to accomplish the task. It must use 5 different forms of energy and must contain 10 energy transformations.

Each team member must:

  1. Draw the machine.
  2. Label each form of energy in blue. You can use a key. For example: 1. Mechanical, 2. Sound, etc.
  3. Make sure you label all of the energy on your drawing even if they are duplicates. You can have more than 10 energy transformations. Show all of them.
  4. Use red arrows to show how one form of energy is transformed into another.
  5. Describe each energy transformation under the drawing. For example: Chemical energyfrom the battery changes into mechanical energywhen the truck moves.

. Supplies

  • While a few materials will be provided for you, your group is responsible for bringing in most of the materials. Possible materials include a ruler, toy truck, wheels, gears from a toy clock, clothes line, pulley, rope, rubber bands, bucket, catapult, magnet, scissors, umbrella, hand eggbeater, kitchen tongs, screws, vacuum hose, clamps, balloons, bike chain, thin insulated wire, glue, tape, old toys, cardboard tubes, PVC pipe,craft sticks,scrap lumber, fasteners, springs, marbles, model airplane propeller, cardboard , plastic bottles (cut off tops for funnels), plastic tubing.
  • Bring more supplies than you think you need!
  • All supplies must be kept in a closed bag or box labeled with your name.I cannot be responsible for lost or misplaced supplies.

You will be scored based on the rubric below:

Criteria / Points / Self / Teacher
Diagram has a meaningful title / 1
5 different forms of energy are correctly labeled in blue on the drawing / 5
10 energy transformations are labeled with red arrows on the drawing / 15
Wasted forms of energy are identified at each step / 4
Each energy transformation is described under the drawing / 10
The Rube Goldberg Device uses at least 5 distinct steps / 10
Device has at least one creative/unique element (does more than just have one thing knock into another, then knock into another etc…Briefly describe your unique element here: / 4
Task is accomplished (popped balloon or cracked egg) / 5
Drawing is neat and colorful / 4
Project contains proper spelling and grammar / 4 /
Rubric has been turned in and thoughtfully filled out / 2
Total / 64

Practice

  1. Fill in the major energy transformations and transfers on the lines below.
  2. Then go back and add the wasted energy at each step.
  3. Finally, fill in the blanks to complete the description.

The ______energy from the outlet is converted into ______energy when the fan moves. The fan’s ______energy is transferred to the dominoes. The dominoes’ ______energy is transferred to the light switch, converting the stored ______energy in the battery to ______. None of the steps are 100 percent efficient. In each step the mechanical energy results in ______energy because each step makes a noise. Also, friction is present at each step. ______flows from each object to the surroundings, increasing ______energy.